The present disclosure relates to authentication systems and, more particularly, to digitally signing documents.
Stylized script signatures on paper are not an practical way to associate a person's signature with electronic documents. Instead, a digital representation of a signature can be used to indicate that a person agrees to the contents of a document, or that a person who claims to have written a document is the one who wrote it. Similarly, a digital signature can be validated to provide a recipient a reason to believe that the document was created by a known author/sender so that the person cannot deny sending it (authentication and non-repudiation). Digital signatures are commonly used for software distribution, financial transactions, and in other situations where a traceable association between a person and a document is desired. Digital signatures are also more easily stored with digital documents and sharable across computer networks compared to traditional stylized script signatures provided on paper documents. In some countries, digital signatures have the same legal consequences as stylized script signatures on paper.